Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 22 > Article 22 - Voluntary Remediation and Redevelopment Act

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Brownfield: means any industrial or commercial property which is abandoned or not being actively used by the owner as of the effective date of this article, but shall not include any site subject to a unilateral enforcement order under §. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• contamination: means any man made or man induced alteration of the chemical, physical or biological integrity of soils, sediments, air and surface water or groundwater resulting from activities regulated under this article, in excess of applicable standards in this chapter, including any hazardous substance, petroleum, or natural gas. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Controls: means to apply engineering measures, such as capping or treatment, or institutional measures, such as deed restrictions, to contaminated sites. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Development authority: means any authority as defined in article twelve, chapter . See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Director: means the director of the Division of Environmental Protection or such other person to whom the director has delegated authority or duties pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Division: means the Division of Environmental Protection of the State of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Hazardous substance: means any substance identified as a hazardous substance pursuant to the "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act" 94 Stat. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Industrial activity: means commercial, manufacturing, public utility, mining or any other activity done to further either the development, manufacturing or distribution of goods and services, intermediate and final products and solid waste created during such activities, including, but not limited to, administration of business activities, research and development, warehousing, shipping, transport, remanufacturing, stockpiling of raw materials, storage, repair and maintenance of commercial machinery or equipment and solid waste management. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Land-use covenant: means a document or deed restriction issued by the director on remediated sites which have attained and demonstrate continuing compliance with site-specific standards for any contaminants at the site. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Licensed remediation specialist: means a person certified by the director pursuant to rules adopted under section three of this article as qualified to perform professional services and to supervise the remediation of contaminated sites. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Natural gas: means natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, coalbed methane, synthetic gas usable for fuel or mixtures of natural gas and synthetic gas. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Nonresidential property: means any real property on which commercial, industrial, manufacturing or any other activity is done to further the development, manufacturing or distribution of goods and services, intermediate and final business activities, research and development, warehousing, shipping, transport, remanufacturing, stockpiling of raw materials, storage, repair and maintenance of commercial machinery and equipment, and solid waste management. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office: means any office, division, board, agency, unit, organizational entity or component thereof within the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
• Operator: means the person responsible for the overall operation of a facility site. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any person owning or holding legal or equitable title or possessory interest in property or, where title or control of property was conveyed due to bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax delinquency, abandonment, or similar means to this state or a political subdivision of this state, or any person who owned the property before the conveyance. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any public or private corporation, institution, association, firm or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Petroleum: means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form, including, without limitation, crude oil or any fraction thereof, oil sludge, oil refuse, used oil, substances or additives in the refining or blending of crude petroleum or petroleum stock. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Practical quantitation level: means the lowest analytical level that can be reliably achieved within specified limits of precision and accuracy under routine laboratory conditions for a specified matrix. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Property: means any parcel of real property, and any improvements thereof. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, all rights thereto and interests therein, except chattel interests. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Related: means the persons who are related to the third degree of consanguinity or marriage. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Release: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, migrating, dumping or disposing of any contaminant or regulated substance into the environment, including, without limitation, the abandonment or improper discarding of barrels, containers or any other closed receptacle containing any contaminant. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Remediation: means to cleanup, mitigate, correct, abate, minimize, eliminate, control and contain or prevent a release of a contaminant into the environment in order to protect the present or future public health, safety, welfare, or the environment, including preliminary actions to study or assess the release. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Remediation contractor: means any person who enters into and is carrying out a contract to cleanup, remediate, respond to or remove a release or threatened release of a contaminant and includes any person who the contractor retained or hired to provide services under a remediation contract. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Residential: means any real property or portion thereof which is designed for the housing of human beings and does not meet the definition of "nonresidential" property set forth above. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Risk: means the probability that a contaminant, when released into the environment, will cause an adverse effect in exposed humans or other living organisms. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Site: means any property or portion thereof which contains or may contain contaminants and is eligible for remediation as provided under this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Unilateral enforcement order: means a written final order issued by a federal or state agency charged with enforcing environmental law, which compels the fulfillment of an obligation imposed by law, rule against a person without their voluntary consent. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• Voluntary remediation: means a series of measures that may be self-initiated by a person to identify and address potential sources of contamination of property and to establish that the property complies with applicable remediation standards. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
• whoever: includes corporations, societies, associations and partnerships, and other similar legal business organizations. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10